DeFi activity up 294% YoY as Ethereum’s dominance grows

New ways to measure the success of decentralized applications

We’re moving rapidly into Spring and so it’s time for DappRadar to take a look at how the dapp ecosystem has been developing during February 2020. As ever, we’re considering data from the dapps running on the three main smart contract blockchains – Ethereum, EOS, and TRON.

Table of contents

Activity in terms of the accumulated daily active unique wallets across the three blockchains rose 1%. In terms of comparing February’s total to January 2020. But growth was a more significant 8% when corrected in terms of the number of days in the two months. 29 days in February vs 31 days in January.

Taking a more long term view of the overall dapp ecosystem, some clear trends emerge about the state of each blockchain.

Daily activity across all dapps running on Ethereum was up 104% year-on-year, while TRON rose 8%. EOS continues to decline, however, down a massive 80% when comparing total activity during February 2020 to February 2019.

Key takeaways

Ethereum’s growth continues into 2020; up 104% year-on-year in terms of daily active and 683% in terms of USD value.

DeFi was particularly vibrant. Up 294% in terms of activity growth year-on-year.

EOS is still declining in terms of daily activity. Across all EOS dapps, daily activity was down 17% when compared to January 2020. And 80% when compared to February 2019.

EOS value rebounded strongly in February compared to January 2020, however, thanks to activity on the Newdex exchange.

TRON continues to be highly concentrated in the Gambling & High-Risk category. Accounting for 89% of daily activity during February 2020.

Across all TRON dapps, daily activity was up 5% and value up 33% in February.

Jon Jordan takes you through the report

Ethereum – On the up, especially DeFi and Games

As well as being the first smart contract blockchain. Ethereum remains the most significant in terms of the users and value growth during February 2020.

The daily value in dollars across the Ethereum dapp ecosystem in February 2020 – $1.9 billion – was up by 27% month-on-month in calendar terms. Or 36% when corrected in terms of the number of days in the two months.

Daily activity was up 8% in calendar month terms or 16% when day corrected.

More significant changes are seen when comparing the data from February 2019 to February 2020. The total USD value (including ETH and ERC20 tokens) of all dapps that run on Ethereum increased by 683%. Total daily active unique wallets increased by 104%.

This is impressive growth but what’s important to consider is what categories of dapps are driving these increases.

All Ethereum dapp categories expected strong year-on-year growth. The two that experienced the biggest growth were Games & Marketplaces, up 114%, and DeFi, up 294%.

In February 2019, the DeFi category generated just over 200 daily active unique wallets. During February 2020 that figure is almost six times higher than it was one year ago – 1,147.

During 2019, the DeFi category generated a lot of headlines and clearly remains one of the key trends of 2020.

The data shows more and more people are acknowledging the advantages of decentralized finance. Dapps such as Compound, Fulcrum, MakerDAO, and dYdX.

In this context, it will be fascinating to see how the DeFi category evolves in the later months of 2020. Both in terms of new products launched and how these and existing dapps react to wider economic uncertainty. Providing the potential to move from thousands to tens of thousands of users.

EOS: Long term decline continues

The first month of 2020 wasn’t promising for EOS. February data shows the same negative trend continuing, at least in terms of daily activity.

The total daily active unique wallets interacting with all EOS dapps during February 2020 was down 17% compared to January. Or down 11% when day-corrected, and down 80% year-on-year.

However, there was good news when it came to the value of tokens spent in EOS dapps. Towards the end of February, it strongly rebounded from its low levels at the end of 2019. Rising 140% compared to January 2020, or 156% when day-corrected.

The vast majority of this activity was generated through decentralized exchanges, notably Newdex.

Looking more generally at activity across EOS in terms of dapp categories. The biggest impact has clearly been experienced in Gambling and High-risk dapps. This has declined by a massive 89% year-on-year. Games and Marketplaces was down 11% and Exchanges by 13%.

TRON: Growth driven by gambling

In contrast, TRON experienced growth during February, both in terms of daily active unique wallets and USD value.

During February 2020, the total number of daily active unique wallets rose 5% month-on-month or 11% when day-corrected. Value was up 33% month-on-month or 42% when day-corrected.

It is no surprise that the Gambling & High-Risk category remains the biggest influence in terms of TRON’s growth.

The USD value of this category during February rose by 34%. While driven by the growth of dapps such as 888TRON and RocketGame. Year-on-year the total daily active unique wallets in February was up 18%.

Games, Marketplaces, and Exchanges remain a small element of TRON’s daily activity. Both have declined in importance during 2019 and 2020.

Conclusions

When looking at the three main smart contract blockchains, there are some very clear trends. It is also apparent the dapp ecosystem is growing.

Ethereum continues to build on its 2019’s momentum. Notably in terms of the value of its DeFi category and the daily activity of games and marketplaces. It is by far the dominant blockchain in terms of value generated by its dapps.

EOS is still struggling to overcome the network congestion resulting from the EIDOS airdrop in November 2019; its daily activity continues to decline. However, February 2020 saw a strong rebound in value, especially via the Newdex exchange.

TRON’s reputation as “Las Vegas on a blockchain” remains undimmed as activity in the Gambling & High-Risk categories boosted both daily activity and value during February.